Dick Durbin Asks The Kos Kids For Help Setting The Democratic Agenda

Believe it or not, Dick Durbin is actually asking the Daily Kos for help in setting the Democrats’ agenda in the Senate. Let me repeat. Dick Durbin, the Democratic whip in the Senate, is asking the loony Daily Kos crowd to help him set the Senate agenda in 2007.

“Today, a new Democratic Congress is working to make America’s hopes for a better tomorrow a reality. Here in the Senate, much like Speaker Pelosi’s 100-hour plan in the House, our Democratic caucus has already unveiled an ambitious agenda to provide a new direction for America. But there is a lot of work to be done — so today I’m asking for your input.

Tell me what priorities you want the Senate to focus on. Click here to rank the most important issues facing America now!

….Thanks for being a part of the effort to provide a new direction for America! I look forward to visiting DailyKos often in these exciting coming weeks to discuss the many pressing issues facing America.”

…and here are some of the more “interesting” suggestions that he received:

“…We want you to treat the President the way you would if the Congress were the peoples architect, and the President the contractor, and this contractor then ripped up said architects plans and redesigned the work on the back of an envelope and failed to perform the work in a workmanlike manner, and had huge cost overuns and kickbacks…We expect he would be fired, sued, tried, imprisoned and forced to make restitution.

Get rid of the Patriot Act, the Warrantless Surveillance, all this talk about terrorism and al Qaeda, used to generate a war that trades blood for oil in Iraq and Somalia.

Put America back the way it was before the Republicans ruined it.” — Live Free or Die

“Senator, welcome, and thanks for all your responses. So I’m reading along, wondering how in the world we will get this all done, if we don’t get the atmosphere more condusive to one where a sustainable future is possible.

I see global warming mentioned frequently, but it is so often talked about without any aparent realization of what I call “Mother’s Skin.” That little bitty crust, with dirt and trees on top. That crust that is being stripped, logged, polluted by toxic wastes.
From just beneath that crust flows our lifeblood, water. Precious and becoming scarce.
Please remember that the big picture is made up of the small. Each Wilderness Area designated, each Mountain Top Removal permit not issued, each Corporation that is made to take responsibility for the waste it produces (including aging Nuclear plants) brings us one step closer to a sustainable future.

CAFE standards don’t mean squat to the West Virginia family who’s spring was just covered in valley fill. Nor to those who live downstream. And we do all live downstream. And we are becoming “water insecure”.the

Rebuilding NOLA won’t mean squat if it’s not built Green. Solar, wind, how about power producing levees? Permeable surfaces everywhere. A living testament to Sustainability, that’s what we can have, if we can build for America rather than for CEO severance packages. Replant the coast.

Healthcare, tie it in. Asthma? ADHD epidemic? Cancers from single chemicals or combinations of them? The list is so very large. Stop the war, yes. But at the same time, help us make this place we call America worth coming home to, and a place where we can afford to take care of those who have sacrificed, and as in the case of our dear testvet, care for those who have continued to suffer for 30 years.

These are all National Security issues, for if we do not heal Mother’s Skin, we dead. Dead.” — emmasnacker

“Impeach

Impeach.

Impeach.

Impeach.

Impeach.” — naufragus

“Absolutely-Fight Propaganda-Reinstate Fairness doctrine!

The exposure to a balance of opposing viewpoints presented in the media is vital for people in a Democracy to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, with so much of the media now owned by right wing conservatives like Rupert Murdoch, the views of Democratics and progressives–including important statements and views of Democrats in Congress–in this country have been stifled, especially over the last six years.

Entire “News” networks and the vast majority of “talk radio” stations are dominated by right wing pundits, ceaslessly pushing an ultra-conservative agenda. Most of their “expert” commentators have obvious conservative bias and many are employed by conservative think tanks or political groups. People without access to the web and blogs like Daily kos are left without an objective news source.” — kurious

“We definitely have to address the energy consumption issue — which doesn’t necessarily mean destroying our standard of living, but there will definitely need to be dramatic changes in our consumer culture.

I hate to be negative, but I believe we have already doomed the polar bears.” — The Cunctator

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And how about oversight of the Executive branch? Booman put it this way:

Friends do not let friends drive drunk. In the case of George W. Bush and the neo-conservatives, they not only are insisting on driving intoxicated, they won’t let us out of the car and they respond to all requests to slow down by stomping on the accelerator. In this situation the only rational thing to do is to wait for them to come to a halt at a stop sign (if they are sober enough to avoid running it) and smack them in the head with a sock full of pennies. We need to take away the car keys. — chriscol

“I notice that impeachment is not on your list. It must a top priority for the Senate. If Bush is not punished for his criminal acts, it will permanently damage the credibility of both the Senate and the nation.” — mrgrandefromage

“Get taxpayer money BACK from WAR PROFITEERS then – put them in JAIL. WAR PROFITEERING is TREASON. Use that money to help our soldiers and innocent Iraqi/Afganie/etc. We must right the WRONGS this CORRUPT CABAL has done.” — Russgirl

“We have 26 years of right-wing stacking of the courts to start to fix, and it can’t be done by half measures such as rejecting only the most radical appointments. What we need from the Senate is the refusal to even consider judicial nominations unless they come from a list pre-approved by a majority of the Judiciary Committee.” — cjmarshall

“Impeach, Prosecute, Imprison. We must repudiate the Bush regime, it’s ideology and crimes and bring justice for our country and the world.” — Calvin Revolt USA

“Our very sovereignty is at risk with this NAU plan. People are starting to wake up to the fact our government is being dissolved into an arm of these multinational corporations, and conservatives and liberals alike are starting to get nervous about the direction we’re heading. It’s a given that Bush is trying to further this agenda, but who or what stands in opposition to it? You can’t even get politicians to acknowledge that it’s happening, much less address it or oppose it.

Will anybody protect our nation from such fate as to exist solely for the benefit of these multinational entities?

“*Free markets and Tom Friedman are a lie. You know it, we know it – stop it.
*Bush is nuts and makes Captain Queeg look like a model of mental health. He & Cheney need to be removed. Investigate, impeach, indict, and imprison. He and his Nazi grandpa have done as much damage to this country as it can stand.” — dkmich

“II. ORDER INVESTIGATIONS BY JOHN CONYERS’S JUDICIARY COMMITTEE FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE WAR CRIMES ACT OF 1996 BY SENIOR MEMBERS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION

III. ORDER INVESTIGATIONS BY A SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE INTO WAR-PROFITEERING AND TREASON BY VENDORS INVOLVED IN IRAQ, E.G., HALLIBURTON, BECHTEL, AND CACI

V. SET A DATE IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS FOR A TWELVE-HOUR DEBATE, FOLLOWED BY A HOLDING-OFF OF THE VOTE FOR AN INDEFINITE TIME, ON REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL’S BILL REGARDING THE DRAFTING OF EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD CITIZENS TO SERVE IN THE MILITARY” — james risser

“This president is lying to you,he does it all the time with help from our media,(we need an fairness act or bust them up), and you guys still believe him and dont call him on it.Investigate on your own.. I would bet you those 20,000 are going to iran..He is poking the bear hoping someone will give him a reason to destroy them.Wag the dog before you guys find out what he has done,.He is bombing africa now killing more innocents. He delibertly caused civil war and hunger in afganis. iraq, helped israel killed innocent in palistine and leb.,is bombing africa, and wants to do the same in iran..Dont you wonder when he is going to start torturing and killing americans,he already has camps set up, dont you know he has the power thanks to 109th to come after you and your loved ones for no reason.. He is not above the law but you guys are too afraid to stop him.” — bayside

“Close Gitmo. Permanently. Maybe even give it back to the Cubans.” — oxon

“The most important thing is to get rid of the Diebold e-voting machines. Until we get rid of them every election is in danger of being stolen. They stole 2004 from Kerry and would have stolen 2006 if there hadn’t been such a huge surge of Democratic voters that messed up their calculations. Check the exit polls. It should have been an even greater landslide.

Exit polls are never wrong. In Canada they have all paper ballots and RELY on exit polls to announce the winner. Then 2-3 days later they finish the actual counting which VERIFIES the exit polls. WHY did the exit polls in 2004 overwhelmingly favor Kerry???? Because he won!!!!!!!!!!!” — Sam the Wolfdog

“Starting talking to Republicans to remove Bush and Cheney. Make a deal to put a Republican as President and if that’s not possible put Nancy Pelosi in with a guarrantee that she won’t run again.

We need to restore our credibility in the world and while this is only a start it’s a good one. I want to see the headline in the UK “Finally, Americans have come to their senses”. — CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream

“Enough of this. We have wanna be dictators who have usurped our government, raped our treasury, killed our sons and daughters to make themselves and their friends rich.

I want to know why Bush and Cheney are not in prison. Why haven’t you joined together to remove the REAL HARM from our government: Bush, Cheney, Rice, Gonzales?

Unless and until you do, America cannot move forward, cannot heal, cannot recover. We have wasted enough time, lives, and money. It is time to put an end to the Neo-Con coup that has attempted to take over our government.

Call all heads of state and tell them to ignore any orders from Bush/Cheney. Call the military and DEMAND they ignore all orders from Bush, Cheney, and Gates.

Physically remove these war criminals from our beloved White House, and put them in a maximum security prison, while they await their plane ride to the Hague to stand trial for war crimes.

That is what Congress MUST DO NOW. Our country is in danger FROM WITHIN.